Addiction Education

Would you like to know if you are showing alcoholic symptoms and behaviors?

We have created a short list of check points to help you understand what alcoholism behavior and symptoms look like.

Scan through the list and if something catches your eye read the details and see if you can identify with the point. There is no scoring here or cut off point that says if you have more than, say 5, you are an alcoholic and less you are home free. Experience shows that if more than a couple resonate with you or a loved one, you might want to take a look at drinking.

Denial is one of the main components which fuels a drug or alcohol addiction, and can be one of the most destructive aspects of any addiction – not being able to recognize if and when you have an addiction is one common reason why substance use spirals out of control.

If you continually use drugs and/or alcohol on a regular basis you may wish to review the following list of questions, for your own benefit please be scrupulously honest.

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1. Alcoholic Tolerance

These days, do you find that it takes more and more to get high/drunk than it used to? Are you trying to drink or use the same amount but it is having less and less effect? These are sure fire signs of tolerance. Having developed a significant tolerance to a substance is one of the first alcoholic signs and most definitive signs of drug or alcohol addiction.

2. Do You Protect And Ensure Your Supply?

Are you starting to think more and more about having a constant drug or alcohol supply handy. Does the idea of running out of your substance fill you with fear? In full-blown drug addiction or alcoholism, the substance becomes the central organizing factor for person’s life. This means that eventually all their decisions, where they go, who they hang out with, are all based on the availability of their substance.

This fear of running out or “protecting the supply” beginning of that movement toward drugs and alcohol being all important. Many people become involved in the restaurant industry due to the availability of alcohol. In the same fashion, many people become drug dealers not only for income went to make sure they have lines supply.

Do you keep a constant drug or alcohol supply handy? (do you stock up in anticipation of running out – i.e., the liquor store may be closed for an upcoming holiday – or contact the dealer ahead of time before your supply runs out – this type of preoccupation is one of the signs of addiction.

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3. Are You Using More Than Intended?

Do you ever drink or use more than you intended? Is it becoming a regular pattern you to say that you only have two drinks and end up having 10? Has your ability to control your use started to weaken? Are you making up excuses to justify not sticking to your word in terms of how much you use or how often? Lack of control or not being able to control how much you use is another alcoholic symptom in behavior.

4. Do You Have Blackouts?

A drug or alcohol induced blackout is one of the most scary things aout drinking or drugging. This phenomenon is simply not about failing to remember events that happened. What is happening is that events are not being imprinted on your brain at all. There is nothing there to recall.

A person will never know if they are in a blackout until after the fact. Likewise, it is impossible for an observer to tell from whether a person is in a blackout not. Is not possible to predict when they will occur or how frequently they will occur. One thing we do know is that once a blackout has occurred the first time, they are more prone to happen subsequently.

Blackouts are one of the drug and alcoholic symptoms and behaviors that indicate substance use has moved into a more chronic stage.

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5. Are You Using Drugs And Alcohol To Handle Uncomfortable Emotions?

Do you find yourself reaching for the drug or alcohol when you feel emotionally upset? Are you are feeling a more and more frequent need to calm yourself, or reduce anxiety of any kind more frequently? If so, this indicates an increasing emotional dependency on the substance. It is also using of the substance as replacement for dealing with emotions as we were meant to.

The deeper people move into their addiction, the less capable they are handling their own emotions. In fact, alcohol and drugs become the only tool they use to handle problems (including uncomfortable emotions). The lack of ability to handle emotions severely affects the quality of relationships. Generally, a person inactive addiction does very poorly with emotions and feelings, and relationships.

6. Have You Been Drunk Or High At Inappropriate Times?

Have you ever been drunk or high at work, school, special occasions, etc. and caused embarrassment to yourself or others? Have you started to become incapable of functioning in a normal, socially acceptable way? Examples of this might be being drunk at work, at your kids social functions, or when it is simply not appropriate.

Not being able to manage the substance to the point where you have been unable to abstain in situations such as the above is an alcoholic symptoms and behavior.

7. Have you Put Yourself Or Others in Danger Because Of You r Drinking Or Drugging?

Unfortunately, just about everybody was taken drink or drug has put themselves in danger one way or another. Driving while drinking or drugging is not okay. It is dangerous. Period. Never mind justifications and rationalizations, you’re putting yourself or others in danger. Have you ever disregarded your own personal safety in your choices of where your drinking or where you go to buy drugs?

I know many people who have had guns thrust into their faces and been robbed. They cannot really see that that is putting themselves in a dangerous position. It’s just the “cost of doing drugs”. Getting obnoxiously drunk in a seedy, low life bar is a recipe for disaster.

8. Combining Drugs And Alcohol - Just One More

Many people use justification along the lines of pills is not my problem, alcohol is. So it is OK to use pills. This is a way of justifying pill use or combining pills and alcohol together.

If, in taking prescription drugs, do you convince yourself that taking more will only increase the benefits, heal you faster, or lead to a more rapid recovery? Do you convince yourself of this even though the instructions detail an exact amount to take

‘Just one more” will be better? This phenomena is another example of loss of control. it is yet another sign of drug or alcohol addiction.

Check out this addictive mindset – if one is good two is better, and five will certainly do the trick. The most common instructions for pain pills to take one or two as needed for pain. An addictive mindset will say “Why should I wait for the pain start” I’ll take the pills prevent the pain. But, if it gets really bad I’ll take even more.

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9. Using Legality As Justification For Using.

Many addicts and alcoholics justify their use because it is legal anyway. Many times, they will stand on their right to use drugs and drink as guaranteed by the legal system, as if it’s a constitutional right.one of the most frequently cited reasons marijuana users used to justify their use is that it’s legal. Interesting thing about drug or alcohol is legal is that the most “legal” drugs are the most destructive.

Cigarette smoking which is legal, kills more people than drugs, alcohol, suicides, traffic accidents, and AIDS combined, yet it is legal. Alcohol has the greatest destructive effect on a person’s body and it destroys more bodily systems and any other drug, yet it is legal. Almost every heroin or opiate addicts started with pain pills, which are commonly and legally prescribed by doctors. This is just one more rationalization for addicts to keep on using.

10. Have You Used Drugs Or Had An 'Eye Opener' First Thing In the Morning?

Have you ever used drugs or alcohol first thing in the morning to deal with a hangover, depression, anxiety, or just to get out of bed? This is an extremely common occurrence. But what is really going on here is that a person is taking drink or drug first thing in the morning to relieve withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal symptoms are a sign of addiction. Simply stated, a withdrawal is anything the body goes through when the drug or alcohol is suddenly stopped. Your body is basically crying out for more. The most effective cure for withdrawal (and about the worst thing you can do) is take more of the substance created it. One of the reasons opiate users have such difficulty stopping their use the fear of dope sickness is basically opiate withdrawal.

Signs of withdrawal are signs of addiction.

11. Have You Had A Trial Abstinence?

A lot of people will play games with abstinence.

They will set themselves a certain length of time not drink or use drugs. If they achieve it, they convince themselves they did not have problems to begin with. After all, they just proved they can quit anytime they want. If they fail to achieve their set time of abstinence, they will rationalize and justify just about any type of excuse to make it OK.

How long did this period last before you allowed yourself to begin using the substance again – it is impossible for an addict to abstain from using the substance of choice for a long period of time, until they are ready to quit completely. Relapses will occur.

Playing these starting and stopping games is a sign of addiction. People who do not have a drinking or drugging problem do not even think about playing these types of games.

12. Have Friens And Family Members Been Commenting On Your Use Of Drugs Or Alcohol?

Although you have may have convinced yourself you have not crossed the line into drug addiction or alcoholism; people observing you may have different opinions.

Family members are not commenting on your drug use just to create conversation. They are observing something in your behavior that has changed, and that is causing them concern. They are seeing behaviors is inconsistent with the way you used to be. Drug and alcohol use changes people and their behaviors.

The first signs sliding into addiction (and relapse) are not noticeable by the person actually doing the drugs or alcohol. However, they are very evident to the people around them. Have friends or family members more than once felt the need to address your alcohol and drug use? Have you denied this in the face of their accusations, and subsequently felt angry or hostile?

One of the reasons addictions are looked at as a disease of isolation is that the person will have less and less to do with family members and friends were commenting negatively on their alcohol and drug use. The addict or alcoholic, simply doesn’t want to hear it anymore. They shut people out. They become shut off and isolated, another destructive alcoholic symptom and behavior.

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13. Have You Switched Your Usual Alcoholic Beverage Or Drug To Try To Control It?

It is very common for people to switch their drug of choice in an effort to control it. A hard whiskey drinker might switch to beer or wine, An opiate pill user may switch to heroin.

This switching and substitution becomes endless merry-go-round. The fact is that it is not a particular substance that is the problem. The problem is disease of addiction itself. The mechanisms of addiction work in the same way for different substances. The only solution for substance use addiction is complete abstinence. Switching and substitution just doesn’t work, and it never will.

14. Is Bad Stuff Happening?

And finally, has your life become more and more out of control and chaotic? Examples may include run-ins with the law, misconduct or poor performance at work, poor money management/spending, troubled relationships, or accidents. Here is the kicker – get ready for it. An addict will continue to use despite knowing that bad stuff happens as a direct consequence of their use. It doesn’t stop them.

Think about that. If I hold a hammer in a way that bashes my thumb, I change it. A 3 year old child burns them self on a hot stove they don’t do it again. But an addict will get burned and go back for more – multiple DUI’s, multiple arrests, fights, broken relationships. It doesn’t matter. The need to use drugs overrides logic.

Hooked, Hacked, Hijacked: Reclaim Your Brain from Addictive Living

Summary:

While it may be easy to blame your substance use on any external problems or factors, the truth is that they are not the cause of an addiction

If you have answered “yes” to ANY of these questions you may need to address the fact that you have a substance abuse issue and need to seek treatment (counseling, rehabilitation, even talking with a close friend, pastor, or relative) to deal with this problem. If you are afraid of change and/or can not see a life beyond constant misery – please do not wait to seek treatment right away.

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Have you ever wondered why certain drug addiction facts are so obvious to the addict, or person in addiction recovery, – and ‘normal’ people just don’t get them at a gut level?

In this post we outline 10 drug addiction facts and concepts that are glaringly obvious. In fact they need little explanation, to those who are getting clean and living sober. These ideas and concepts are extremely confusing and difficult for others to understand at a gut level.

We will try to explain these concepts so that a “Normie” or person without direct experience with addiction, can understand it and to which an addict can relate.

Let us know if you agree, disagree or we have jogged a memory. If you have something to add to anything discussed in this article please fill out a comment form located at the very end of this post.

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1. Drug Cravings and Urges

Only addicts can really understand the true power urges and cravings have over themmentally and physically. The physicality of them is next to impossible for a person who gas not gone through it to understand. Non-addicts can’t really get it. For me, it used to feel like a fist scrunching up my stomach and pulling me from the inside out toward the drug. It was like a giant invisible magnet powerfully pulling me toward it. Whether I liked it or not, there was no way I could refuse it.

I had a “Normie” try to understand what urges and cravings are like He tried to relate by comparing them in this way: “I really like blueberry pancakes, once I get the idea in my head, I really want them until I eat them.” He asked if that was what it was like. I wanted to laugh or cry. But instead I explained.

The difference is you wanted blueberry pancakes and you went and got them when a drug addict has urges and cravings for their drugs they don’t want them they need them. They need them so bad it becomes a focus that blots everything else out and they will do anything to get them and satisfy the urging craving. He looked at me kind of funny.

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2. The Inability To Say No

Okay, get ready to roll your eyes. How many times have you had somebody say to you “why don’t you just say no and quit?”

I was working with a client and processing her relapse, she had completed a residential program and a step down IOP program and was out on her own. She relapsed within a month. When asked to explain what happened she stated that she had no intention of using, but it dope dealer came up and offered her an “free sample”. She stood there looking at the at the pills in his hand in a feeling came over her that just such short-circuited all rational thoughts and she took them.

With tears in her eyes she stated “it was right there in front of me, there was nothing I could do.” The therapist in me thought yes, there was something you could do, you should’ve said no, but the addict in me said ‘I get it’.

Her entire rationale for her relapse was the drugs were right in front of her and she couldn’t say no. Addicts understand that at a gut level, normal people will never get it.

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3. The Obsession Of Drug Thoughts

In my example previously used my friend was thinking about blueberry pancakes. Even if he says he was obsessing about blueberry pancakes, people who do not understand addiction are using a very watered-down idea of the power of drug obsession.

Addicts really know what obsessive drug thoughts are.

The dictionary describes obsession as “a persistent, disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling.”

An addict in active addiction shows his obsession pretty much by an inability to think about anything else except drugs. Questions like “Where my going to get them?, Do I have enough money?, Who can I manipulate to get the cash?, Do I have to share any of it?,… And on and on. The psychiatrists use a fancy five dollar term to describe obsession, they say that ‘drugs become the central organizing factor in an addicts life’. Which pretty much means that everything revolves around drugs. That includes where we go, who we talk to, and what we do.

A person with no experience with addiction really cannot understand that single-minded focus and obsession that becomes all-consuming to the exclusion of all else. Neurologists estimate 85-95% of all active addicts thoughts are of drug use. There literally is no room or time to be thinking about family, work, life goals etc.

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4. That Moment Of The First Rush And The Pull for More, More, More

Many addicts state that their first high is actually the process of getting the drug in settling down and getting ready to use it. Oddly enough, science has verified this phenomena. They call it an anticipatory response. What happens is the brain anticipates that drug use is coming, (it has been trained that way), and it releases dopamine in the brain before the drug even gets there. Your body jumps the gun and get a little buzz before even taking the drug.

The first rush that comes after the anticipation is something that only an addict can understand. Normal people have a lack of ability to understand how powerful that is. Scientists have measured the dopamine level drugs release as being 2 to 10 times higher than a person can achieve without them. Non drug users never experience that artificially high level of ecstasy. Therefore they do not really understand the pull for more, more, more of the drug once the uses started.

In fact, that phenomenon of more, more, more, is described in the 12 step program as the phenomenon of craving. The big book states that that phenomenon is present in all addicts and not present in normal people. Normal people don’t have it and they can’t get it.

A little story I used to explain this phenomenon is the fact that I love coconut ice cream. I can think about it and eat it and enjoy it. But I don’t eat bowl after bowl after bowl of it until I’m so sick I’m curled up on the floor with stomach cramps throwing up. But I will certainly do that with drugs and alcohol. Addicts really get that story, normal people get a questioning look in their eyes and laugh at it.

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5. Isolation and Disconnection From People And The World

Addiction is a disease of isolation and disconnection. Living sober is about connection and relationships.

One idea I’ll share with you concerning the isolation and disconnection of active drug addiction is the fact that drug addiction reprioritize is the things that an addict thinks is important and puts itself on top.

This means that it becomes more important than family relationships, and caring about people. In fact the dissent into isolation and disconnection is really driven by the fact that all an addict wants to do is to get high and stay high. Most people around him can see the destruction that is going on and are constantly telling and to change. If an addict is not ready he doesn’t want to hear that and he will distance himself from voices of reason.

There is a depth of loneliness, depression, isolation in futility that virtually all addicts achieve in their own personal hell.

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Highly Recommended:

The Recovery Book is the easiest to read reference book on 100’s of topics on addiction recovery. I know tons of couselors who have this on their book shelf and refer to it constantly.

The Happy Addict. The Happy Addict is the ultimate guide to achieving an amazing life after addiction. No more guilt. No more shame. No more feeling held back by the past or low self-esteem.

The Craving Mind. This ia an Amazon Best Seller. A leading neuroscientist and pioneer in the study of mindfulness explains why addictions are so tenacious and how we can learn to conquer them.

6. The Agony Of Drug Detox And Dope Sickness

One of the reasons normal people really don’t understand detox and dope sickness is it they can understand how strong and vice like the grip of addiction is on a person. They don’t understand how hard it is to break those chains.

In a really basic way every time an addict puts drugs or drinks alcohol into their system they are poisoning themselves. Their bodies have developed defenses to counteract the poison. When drug use is suddenly stopped the body reacts violently. That’s just the physical part.

The real lack of understanding is the mental or psychological piece of detox and dope sickness. Normal people cannot understand the deep-seated fear opiate addicts have of dope sickness. The idea that they continue to use just to avoid withdrawal is completely foreign to them. To an addict it makes perfect sense.

Every addict was gone through detox, dope sickness and PAWS (Post Acute Withdrawal Symptoms), has their own personal war story to share. Unfortunately, sometimes the intensity of the pain fades with time. One of the most basic tools of relapse prevention is to remember the pain.

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7. Crippling Negative Emotions - Shame Guilt and Remorse

All those “negative” feelings that an active addict feels such as shame, guilt, remorse, anger in self-pity are all natural outcomes of drug use for a couple very simple and basic reasons. Emotional change and regulation is a needed skill and a real challenge for those in early recovery

We know what we’re doing to ourselves. Normal people mistakenly believe that addicts don’t know how much damage they are doing to themselves and other people those horrible negative feelings come from the fact that we actually do know the path of destruction we are crossing. But, we can’t seem to help it. We know we are doing destructive things and do it anyway. That can scare anybody up.

A drug addict will do almost anything to get high. A common idea expressed by drug addicts is that they did things they swore that they would never do. They sank lower than they ever thought they could go. That is bad enough, but the fact is they are aware of it and continued to slide downhill. That is the generator of negative emotions.

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8. The Realization That You’re Not Alone

There is a realization that occurs at some point in time that almost always occurs within the first year of recovery. The realization is that were really not all alone. In fact, that isolation and disconnection which is dominated are lies for so long is suddenly lifted. It is like a weight coming off ones shoulders.

This moment of awareness is often discussed in the 12 step rooms. When an addict in recovery hears other stories from people in recovery, at some point they realize that others have shared their deepest darkest secrets. Things that they thought only happen to them, or only they had done, are shared by others. That realization destroys isolation and enhances connection.

In a famous passage in the AA Big Book it states: “No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.”

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9. Life Getting Good Again

Almost without exception addicts state their lives are infinitely better without drugs. There are a couple of sayings that illustrate this point:

My worst day sober is better than my best day when I was using.

My life now (sober) is beyond my wildest dreams.

When a person starts accruing time in recovery and is actively working to grow and change himself, life starts getting good again. There is a euphoria, and almost an ecstatic feeling that is often described by addicts is a feeling like no other.

Enjoy it, and keep pushing it, that’s what recovery is all about.

Neurologists have actually discovered that there is some physical science behind this euphoric feeling. One of this side effects of using drugs is that the brain shuts down its normal dopamine production. The body doesn’t need to produce it because it is being artificially introduced by the drugs. When a person stops using drugs, it takes a while but the body starts to produce dopamine again. Dopamine is the feel-good chemical and this drives that feeling of life getting good again.

In 12 step for an ocular this phenomenon is known as “the pink cloud”. While feeling great, fine, there is a significant danger involved. Many addicts in recovery get the idea that if they feel good, they are good, in other words they are cured. Some addicts will get to the point where life is going good and stop doing the things needed to sustain it. I have heard many, many relapse stories that begin with the idea of “I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing and life got really good then I stopped doing what I needed to do and I relapsed”.

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10. Relapse – The Return To Drug Use

Why do people relapse and return to drug use? Once they have tasted the good life why return to misery? If I had the correct answer to that, I would right a book, it would be a best seller and I be a millionaire. The fact is there are many answers each contributing a piece to the puzzle.

I was speaking to a client’s parent on the phone one time and they stated “I don’t know what happened he was doing so good and then he started using again.” I didn’t say it out loud but in my mind I thought “Your right you really don’t know what happened, and the reality is your son probably didn’t either.”

Generally, addicts have very little or no insight into why they relapse. The most common answer that I received when an addict response to the question of why did you relapse is “I don’t know.”. They don’t know why they relapsed or how to prevent a drug relapse. The second most popular answer to that question is “I got complacent, I knew what I was supposed to do and it was working really well, I just stopped doing it.”

Logically and rationally neither one of these statements make sense to the person who states ‘I don’t know why i got high’. To me, (wearing my clinicians hat) the answer is simple. You got high because you wanted to get high more than you want to stay sober. End of story. Everything else is BS an embellishment.

The response to the second most common reason as to why people relapse, complacency is also very simple. Why did you get complacent? Answer – you got lazy. You knew what you had to do, were successful when you are doing it but you stopped. Why… Here is where the excuses come in, story, story, story. I started working more, I met a guy/girl, I had better things to do with my time.

Some people refer to relapses as having a slip. S.L.I.P. means Sobriety Lost It’s Priority.

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Hooked, Hacked, Hijacked: Reclaim Your Brain from Addictive Living

Summary:

I hope you enjoyed reading and reminiscing while reading this article as I did writing it.

One thing that is clear in life is that everybody has a different point of view.

I have discovered that is far more important to be able to understand and explain your own point of view so that people “get it”, then it is to convince people that you are right or wrong or what you’re saying is good or bad.

The trick is, that in order for person to understand something at a gut level, they have to have some basis of experience and be able to relate to it somehow. The changes and addicts involvement in drug addiction bring about are so profound, that it is very challenging for people with little experience even understand the basis for an addicts actions.

When parents are loved ones of drug addicts ask what they can do this a support their people, I provide the same answer time after time. The number one thing family or friends of a drug addict can do that can support them is to get their own education on drug addiction. In order for family or friends to be supportive they have to have some understanding of drug addiction of self. This post on 10 drug addiction facts and concepts is by no means meant to be inclusive, but rather an illustration of the differences in points of view between a drug addict or person in recovery and a person who has no experience with addiction at all.

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We would love to have you share your comments with us and our readers. Please leave a comment. The form is way down at the end of this post.

Dope sickness is a casual or street way of referring to withdrawal from drugs, specifically opiate withdrawal.

George Carlin said,

“Just because the monkey’s off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.”

The simplest way to explain drug withdrawal is that it is whatever happens physically and psychologically when a drug to which a person is addicted to is suddenly removed. The body and brain revolt.

The brain goes into an obsessive state – ‘gotta have it, gotta get it’, these thoughts ruminate over and over again. The body goes through an abrupt adjustment and has to shift gears. The effect on the body is similar to starting a car in Park, flooring the gas pedal, then shifting into Drive. The car might survive but it is not recommended.

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What Is Dope Sickness? What Does Being Dope Sick Mean?

I have worked with many opiate addicts over the years as a substance abuse therapist. One of the most common reasons opiate users will cite for continuing their drug use is their fear of dope sickness. The fear of stopping is greater than the pain of continuing.

Being dope sick is the stuff that legends are made of. Just about every addict has their own personal story on the physical agonies of being dope sick.

The reality is that for most people it is like suffering severe flu symptoms. Now I’m not saying that there is not extreme discomfort, there is. But it passes.

When people speak of drug withdrawal most of the time they are speaking of the physical effects on the body. But, in reality, there are two components to withdrawing from opiates the physical and the mental.

In opiate withdrawal the mental or psychological withdrawal works with a body in a really nasty, diabolical way. Many opiate addicts in recovery has stated that they believe that mental withdrawal is the most difficult part.

The mental withdrawal usually has elements of a tremendous fear and anticipation of how bad it will be. Once begun a feeling develops that this will never end. There is a feeling of hopelessness and severe depression. If those feelings get great enough the addict will abandon trying to get clean and sober and go back to using.

A surefire way to end the mental and physical agonies of dope sickness is to go get high.

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What Are Dopesick Symptoms?

There are lists out there on the most commonly reported dopesick physical symptoms which I will list below. My clinical experience has shown that the most common and almost universally shared physical withdrawal symptoms are:

Insomnia – sleeplessness

Nausea – sickness

Muscle aches – cramps

Sweats and chills

A more complete list would include:

dilated pupils

anxiety

depression

runny nose

constipation

goosebumps

yawning

The Mental Components of Dope Sickness

extreme fear of not having the drug available

extreme fear of not being able to stand the pain

anxiety can go from low-grade anxiety to full-blown panic attack

feelings of hopelessness

feelings of ‘this will never end’

the fear that I will end dope sickness by getting high again

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How Long Does Dope Sickness Last?

In attempting to give an answer to the question of how long does dope sickness last is really difficult. The cagey, safe, answer is it all depends on person and the situation.

Factors that play into the answer include:

the type of opiate being used

the quantities being used

the length of time the person is been on it

the individuals physical and mental makeup

That was playing it safe. I know you want an answer – so I will provide some ballpark guidance. Opiate withdrawal can last from several days to several weeks depending on the above factors. Opiate users detoxing in a drug and alcohol treatment center are usually given detox drugs to taper them off the level of opiates they were using. The idea of doing this is to bring a person down both mentally and physically for a relatively gentle landing into normalcy. If in opiate user tries to go “cold turkey” generally the discomfort is so great they will go get high.

In a treatment setting if the level of detox medication is too high the patient walks around being high and nothing is accomplished. If the detox medication level is too low the discomfort can be somewhat come so great they will leave treatment against medical advice AMA. They will hop the fence or walk out the door and have a drug relapse. Rehabs are not prisons, a person cannot be forced to stay against their will.

Unfortunately, many opiate users reach a point after a couple weeks where thoughts run along the lines of “if this is good as it gets I may as well go get high.”

Don’t stop until you get over the hump.

This a test of your motivation to get sober and a check on your attitude toward getting clean. Many opiate users refer to ‘getting over the hump’ or finaslly breaking through the fog. There’s a certain point where all of a sudden the senses sharpen up, the sunshine is brighter, the food taste better, you can hear the birds singing and everything is wonderful. Don’t quit before that happens.

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Highly Recommended:

Opiate Detox:

Opiate Detox: What Will I Go Through and How Long Will it Last?. A Kindle book ready for download.Tells of of individuals in active, full-blown recovery and takes you through their personal detox timelines.

Opiate Addiction

Opiate Addiction – The Painkiller Addiction Epidemic, Heroin Addiction and the Way Out. Are you looking to move beyond addiction? A clear approach to providing hard facts about opiate addiction.

Heroin Addicts

Heroin Addicts: How to Help a Heroin Addict Before It’s Too Late (A Guide to Understanding Heroin Addiction). If there’s a friend or loved one in your life that may be addicted to heroin, then this book is for you!l

How To Get Over Dope Sickness

A dead certainty is you will get over dope sickness with abstinence over time.

What is the best way to achieve this? In my opinion, the addict needs to get some professional help. Part of the mental fear that drug addicts have developed about dope sickness is relying in the past experience when they tried to stop on their own and weren’t capable of doing it. Therefore that they arrive at the conclusion that it is too painful and it can’t be done.

Lone wolves do not do well in detox, treatment, or recovery. The professional help can take the form of the going to a detox center, checking into rehab that provides detox services or, as a last resort going to the emergency room.

I might be stepping in a bear trap here but I have strong views on using medication to get off heroin. The most common medications are Methadone and Suboxone. I have strong negative opinions on the use of methadone mainly formed from dealing with people who are trying to get off a methadone habit.

Suboxone or Subutex is commonly used in drug treatment rehab centers as medication to taper person off opiates. The important thing to note is this is short-term and temporary use of these drugs,usually 2 to 10 days.

There are some medical doctors detox is in treatment centers who advocate the use of Suboxone long-term similar to the way methadone is been suborned. Not a good thing. But that’s a personal and professional opinion. Do your research

People have asked about home remedies for dope sickness. There is no magic bullet. The best you can do is to treat the symptoms of withdrawal. Drink plenty of water to combat dehydration. Some over-the-counter medicines can help specific symptoms of withdrawal such as Imodium for diarrhea, Bonine or Dramamine for nausea.

Pain can be treated with acetaminophen (Tylenol) or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil). Never use any medication for longer than its recommended usage or in larger doses than recommended. Addict mentality is if one is good 5 Is Way better – that’s a dangerous way to roll.

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Heroin Withdrawal "Dope Sick" Explained

Summary:

As discussed, being dope sick is the modern slang for opiate withdrawal.

Attached to it are 2 major components, the physical aspects and the mental and psychological aspects. It seems that family friends and medical professionals who have no direct personal experience with being dope sick will focus on the physical aspects.

Addicts who have been through it and come out the other side may puff up thier story about the physical but almost all universally admit the mental aspects were far more destructive.

It can be psychological hell. Heartening news is that opiate withdrawal is not dangerous, people do not die from it (though it may feel like it). The key is to bring the discomfort down to a tolerable enough level so the addict doesn’t say ‘Forget it” and then goes out and get high. Sometimes certain elements of withdrawal can linger on even sfter the inital doep sickness subsides This is called PAWS Post Acute Withdrawal Symptoms.

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There is no single answer to the question of what is drug addiction. It depends who you ask. In this post, (part 3 of a series of 3), we will focus on answering the question of what is addiction from a medical point of view.

In part one we attempted to answer the question of what is addiction from the point of view of the addict. In part two we gave a neurological or brain science point of view.

In asking medical trained people for a definition of addiction and treatment, be prepared for many points of view. If you ask 100 doctors what a simple fracture of a leg looks like and what it’s treatment is, probably 100 doctors will give you the same answer on diagnosis – the x-ray shows a broke bone.. and treatment – we set it and put on a cast.

If you ask the same hundred doctors what drug addiction is be prepared for 100 different answers and 100 different opinions on treatment.

The American Medical Association Acknowledges Addiction As A Disease

The AMA endorses the proposition that drug dependencies, including alcoholism, is a disease and that their treatment is a legitimate part of medical practice. “

OK, so the American Medical Association the American Society of Addiction Medicine, World Health Organization and American Psychiatric Association and a host of others agree that drug addiction and alcoholism are diseases.

This had huge implications in moving drug and alcohol addiction from the realm of a moral issue of weak willed or degenerate persons into a legitimate illness. This shift opened up the legitimacy of research and exploring treatment venues.

But it wasn’t until about 25 years ago that the Medical Association and other professionals could agree on a definition of the disease of addiction. Kind of. Sort Of.

Oh-Oh. A Committee Is Formed To Try And Get Agreement

In 1992 The Joint Committee of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine formed a committee to study the definition and criteria for the diagnosis of alcoholism.

The goals of the committee were to create by consensus a revised definition that is (1) scientifically valid, (2) clinically useful, and (3) understandable by the general public.

I especially like #3, a definition ‘understandable by the general public’. It should be clear to the average person, right?

Here is what they came up with: the committee agreed to define alcoholism as:

A primary, chronic disease with genetic, psycho-social, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial. Each of these symptoms may be continuous or periodic.”

Breaking Down The Committee's Findings So We Can Understand Them

Great, I’m a member of the general public, but am not so sure how clear that is, so let’s break that definition and wording down a bit into even more understandable terms.

Primary: This suggests that alcoholism, or drug use, as an addiction stands on its own and is not a symptom of another underlying disease state. It refers to the disease as possibly being in addition to, but separate from other states which may be associated with it. It is not secondary to something else.

Disease: This means impairment or involuntary disability that is associated with a specified common set of characteristics, signs and symptoms that differentiate these individuals from the general population and which places them at a disadvantage.

Often progressive and fatal… Drug addiction is persistent over time, the physical emotional and social changes are key, and will progress as long using continues. The negative effects of alcohol and drug use accumulate over time and can cause premature death through overdose, suicide, homicide motor vehicle accidents and traumatic events. Medical or organic complications often involve the brain, heart, liver, and many other organs within the body. If left unchecked is has a known outcome.

Impaired control: this is the phenomenon of a person’s inability to control their use of alcohol or drugs after a certain point. They become unable to consistently set enforceable limits on both the quantity consumed, the length of the episode, and their behavior consequences of use. A lot of this is not just psychological, but neurological.

Preoccupation: as the disease progresses, the individual often starts to divert attention and energy away from important life concerns. The alcohol or drug use becomes the central point of focus, or central organizing a factor around which the users life starts to revolve.

Adverse Consequences: This means negative consequences: quite plainly stated, ‘ bad stuff happens’, hitting bottom. The qualities of interpersonal relationships start to suffer. There may be impairments and a decrease in the ability to think clearly, as well as producing altered states of mood and behavior. There may be legal, financial spiritual problems. Physical health problems may start to manifest themselves such as withdrawal symptoms, craving, anemia, liver disease, brain disease etc.

Characterized By Denial: Denial is a unique symptom of the disease of addiction. It is much deeper than simply responding negatively to accusations that you have a problem. In order to stay active in their addiction, a user must create a rational framework in which it is OK or the to do so.

These mental manipulations, or psychological defense mechanisms eventually create almost a fantasy world in which it is OK for the user to continue. Some common elements of a denial system are a minimization of how much is actually consumed, and minimizing the negative effects on themselves and people around them.

There is also a tendency to blame people, places, and things for their use, and holding the belief that they are ‘entitled’ to continue using or it is a reward for their hard work.

The Diagnostic Criteria Used By Medical Professionals

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) is the 2013 update to the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) classification and diagnostic tool. In the United States the DSM serves as a universal authority for psychiatric diagnoses. Treatment recommendations, as well as payment by health care providers, are often determined by DSM classifications.

Here is the official Substance Use Disorder (the current politically correct way of saying drug addiction criteria). This is a sample for opiates, but just about every drug has similar criteria.

Opioid Use Disorder Criteria:

A minimum of 2-3 criteria is required for a mild substance use disorder diagnosis, while 4-5 is moderate, and 6-7 is severe (APA, 2013). Opioid Use Disorder is specified instead of Substance Use Disorder, if opioids are the drug of abuse.

Taking the opioid in larger amounts and for longer than intended

Wanting to cut down or quit but not being able to do it

Spending a lot of time obtaining the opioid

Craving or a strong desire to use opioids

Repeatedly unable to carry out major obligations at work, school, or home due to opioid use

Continued use despite persistent or recurring social or interpersonal problems caused or made worse by opioid use

Stopping or reducing important social, occupational, or recreational activities due to opioid use

Recurrent use of opioids in physically hazardous situations

Consistent use of opioids despite acknowledgment of persistent or recurrent physical or psychological difficulties from using opioids

*Tolerance as defined by either a need for markedly increased amounts to achieve intoxication or desired effect or markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount. (Does not apply for diminished effect when used appropriately under medical supervision)

*Withdrawal manifesting as either characteristic syndrome or the substance is used to avoid withdrawal (Does not apply when used appropriately under medical supervision)

Top 10 Shocking Before And After Drug Use Photos

Summary:

We would like to note that sustaining long-term recovery is simply not about saying no to drugs (although that is the object of the exercise). It is about gaining an education of the nature of drug addiction, how it personally applies to you, and formulating strategic prevention awareness and actions.

What is drug addiction. Why is the point of view of looking at addiction as a brain disease gathering in popularity? I believe is simply because the principal actions of drugs and alcohol are on the brain.

Drinking and drugging affect the brain in three very important ways. It alters the function of the brain, it alters the physical structure of the brain, and it alters the chemicals produced in the brain.

Viewing Drug Addiction As A Brain Disease

Viewing addiction as a brain disease is pretty much on the polar opposite end of the scale as the historic view of addiction being a moral weakness. Supporters of the moralistic view tend to believe that it is simply a matter of just saying “no” and stopping.

As more and more is revealed about the functioning of the brain, through the tremendous technological advances in the last 30 years, understanding drug addiction and recovery become a very complex problem. We now have all different sorts of scans and task that can actually show was clearly pictures of the brain and what’s happening inside.

Drugs and alcohol affect the functioning in the brain’s limbic system. The limbic system contains the brains pleasure pathways or reward centers. It is the stimulation and action of chemical changes that occur here that produce feelings of pleasure. The brain learns that one feelings of pleasure occur where motivated to repeat them.

Messages in the brain are transmitted by sending electrical impulses across networks of nerve cells called neurons. Messages are transmitted between neurons by the chemicals called neurotransmitters. This is where it gets interesting.

Drugs Mess Up The Way Your Brain Works In Big Ways

Alcohol and drugs affect your brain in these three ways:

They change the physical structure of your brain.

They change the functioning of your brain.

They alter the chemical signals your brain sends to your body.

Physical structure of your brain.

Through different types of scans now available, such as Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we can see physical changes in the brain. Drugs actually do destroy brain cells. Okay the government that

Function of your brain.

Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse disrupts the way critical brain structures interact to control and inhibit behaviors related to drug use. Just as continued abuse may lead to tolerance or the need for higher drug dosages to produce an effect, it may also lead to addiction, which can drive a user to seek out and take drugs compulsively. Drug addiction erodes a person’s self-control and ability to make sound decisions, while producing intense impulses to take drugs.

Affect brain chemistry.

After using drugs for significant amount of time changes in the chemical system of the brain and its circuits occur. Studies of brain images of individuals with drug addiction show significant changes in the specific areas of the brain that are critical to decision-making, judgment, memory, learning and very importantly behavior control. One put altogether these changes can significantly affect behavior and cause a drug addict to seek out and take drugs and obsessive-compulsive fashion.

Alcohol and drugs are chemicals that can enter into and interfere with that chemical communication by mimicking the natural chemicals that occur in the brain. Some examples are heroin or marijuana which fooled brain into sending abnormal messages which are then transmitted. There are other drugs such as the stimulants cocaine and amphetamines which cause the brain cells to release an abnormally large quantities of the brain chemicals.

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How Do We Get Addicted To Drugs In The First Place?

Well, one reason is that drugs can stimulate 100 percent to 1000 percent the amount of dopamine (the chemical that makes us feel good), released to reward center in the brain. That’s almost like saying you can feel 2 to 10 times better with drugs than you can naturally doing things like hanging out, esting, or having sex.. The effects of drugs are not only way more intense. but also last much longer.

The problem is that our brain starts to adapt to these abnormally large quantities of dopamine it does so by producing less and less of the substance naturally. So, if you’re not actually under the effects of drugs your ‘resting state’, is actually quite low. The brain also reacts to curb the flood by reducing the number of dopamine receptors available in the brain so it does not face continual overload.

This means essentially that you must take drugs just to feel ‘normal’, and even more and more drugs to get high. This is the symptom of drug addiction known as tolerance. It’s like hitting a moving, escalating target.

See It Yourself - Brain Imaging Shows Brain Changes Caused by Drug Use

Summary

We would like to note that sustaining long-term recovery is simply not about saying no to drugs (although that is the object of the exercise). It is about gaining an education of the nature of drug addiction, how it personally applies to you, and formulating strategic prevention awareness and actions.

All that being said, to say that drug addiction is simply all neurological, biological and physical is way too much of a simplification. If a person has not truly ‘crossed the line’ into addiction, they may be able to make a self-willed choice to stop or control the use.

These people have not quite reach the tipping point. When negative consequences in unmanageability start showing up because of their drug use they can make a rational decision that the rewards of not using outweigh those of using, and they stop.

However, the deeper into addiction one is the less capable one is of making conscious decisions to stop. Part of the brain that is affected by sustained drug use is in the area of being able to withhold instant gratification and sustain willful purpose.

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What is Drug Addiction? It Might Just All Be In Your Head Part 2 in A 3 Part Series was last modified: April 20th, 2017 by Bill_Urell

An Addicts Point Of View: What Is Drug Addiction?

“Active drug use is hell disguised as the solution to all my problems.”

Addiction is very confusing, hard to explain and can seldom be understood by at its core, by someone who is not in its grips. A number of times I’ve asked a group of addicts in therapy or in lecture if they’ve ever tried to explain what drug addiction is like to a “normal” person. The answer almost universally is yes. The next question is did that normal person “get it”. In the answer is universally no. Without the experience of living the life it is almost impossible to understand.

Here are some attitudes and beliefs common to people in active addiction:

The cause is the cure and the cure is the cause.

I always felt out of place. I always felt like I didn’t fit into my skin. I was so afraid of people and of the world. And when I had my first drink it was like, Wow, this is what I’ve been looking for all of my life!

I always felt out of place. I always felt like I didn’t fit into my skin. I was so afraid of people and of the world. And when I had my first drink it was like, Wow, this is what I’ve been looking for all of my life!”

I believe that I was an addict and an alcoholic waiting to happen…I always wanted more of everything.”

If you have never tried heroin then don’t because it is a very loving, encompassing drug that makes you feel that everything is okay for as long as it lasts. And then, of course, you are going to have the battle of getting more and get the money, to get more heroin and then that cycle…and suddenly you are a hamster on a wheel and you want to kick yourself again because you are the retard in this, nobody else is! … but everyone is so scared of withdrawal…we all know that the fix, the cure is the same thing that hurt us. The cause is the cure and the cure is the cause.”

While everybody is different, in tapping into my personal experience, clinical experience, and listening to literally thousands of addicts describe their experience there are certain commonalities. Here is what I have heard a lot:

Addicts live for instant gratification and under the belief that if I feel good, I am good.doing drugs feels good, stopping drugs may bring on withdrawals or becoming dope sick.

Obsession, Compulsion and ‘More, More, More'.

An addict in the throes of active addiction has three powers that interact in control their life.

Obsession

Compulsion

More, more more

Obsession is the mental part of drug addiction. A person an active addiction is thinking about how to get high and stay high all the time. It is like an endless loop in the brain, where am I going to get drugs? How am I going to afford them? Where can I do them? Neuroscientists estimate that approximately 85 to 90% of the active thoughts of a person in addiction are about drug use. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for thinking about your job, family, purpose in life etc.

Compulsion is taking action to alleviate the incessant obsession and fixation on drug use. It’s actually quite simple, if I’m thinking about drugs all the time (Obsession), then the only thing that will relieve that circular thinking is actually doing the drugs.A piece of the compulsion to do drugs is that an addict will do almost anything to obtain in do drugs. That includes putting their life at risk, illegal activities, stealing from family, etc. This is not because they are bad people, it is rather doing what needs to be done to relieve the mental obsession and physical compulsion.

More, more, more. This concept is one of the most difficult for a non-added to understand. Is a combination of both mental and physical influences?What happens is that once drugs are introduced into a addicts body it sets up a mechanism where they crave more and more of the drugs. 100 is not enough. Many drug addicts will continue to use drugs even though they are not getting incrementally higher. The only stop when they pass out, become physically incapable of functioning, or run out of money.

Short Video Clip From Nat Geo - Life In Addiction - Addicts Speak

In Summary

Wwe would like to note that sustaining long-term recovery is simply not about saying no to drugs (although that is the object of the exercise). It is about gaining an education of the nature of drug addiction, how it personally applies to you, and formulating strategic prevention awareness and actions.